Rooting Against "America's Team"
Vedran Vuk's article today on New Orleans argued that, "high wages and job opportunities are not enough in the face of a subsidized mentality of redistributionist policies." This doesn't just apply to the lower classes. One of the city's wealthier businesses, the New Orleans Saints, have been asking for government handouts even before Katrina struck. Only now, the media is actively cheerleading subsidies rather then denouncing them as rent-seeking.
Tonight the Saints play their first home game since Katrina, the featured Monday Night game on ESPN. The press's theme has been consistent--keeping the Saints in New Orleans is essential to the city's soul. (I heard the same arguments here in Washington for handing nearly half a billion dollars in subsidies to Major League Baseball last year.) Among the more vocal defenders of rent-seeking is Sports Illustrated's football writer, Peter King:
"Psychologically, the Saints mean everything to this community right now," [New Orleans Mayor Ray] Nagin said. "We need them now more than ever -- at least until we get back on our feet,'' so that the psyche of the city doesn't crumble. He went on to say the city needed the Saints, who were rumored to be relocating to San Antonio or Los Angeles, to stay "for at least two years. Two years minimum. We'll have enough of our infrastructure and people back by then.''Confiscating several million dollars from citizens outside New Orleans to pay for that city's football arena does not, in my mind, make the Saints "America's team". Particularly when, as King admits, the repair money "can't bring the place into the same league with most of the new stadiums that have been built in the past few years." In other words, the Saints will soon need a few hundred million (and maybe billion) more in government handouts--if not from New Orleans, then from any number of cities whose political leaders are eager to build a stadium to host 10 NFL games per year.Then some amazing things happened. The federal and state governments poured $180 million into a new roof and massive rehab at the Superdome. Drew Brees, the new star quarterback, bought a house in the Garden District of the city, showing how much he wanted to be part of the city's revival. Megastar Reggie Bush, not some anonymous lineman, got drafted and began caring immediately, throwing money at major problems in the city.
Every ticket to every one of the eight home games this season was sold, the first time in team history that had happened. Owner Tom Benson, who had flirted with San Antonio openly last year, told friends he absolutely was not selling the team, nor was he thinking of moving it. (He even turned down -- and it is mind-boggling that this has not gotten more play -- a $1 billion feeler from a Canadian consortium that wanted to buy the team with no strings attached. In other words, to move it somewhere.)
"It is amazing,'' Nagin said Saturday afternoon. "This even has propelled New Orleans so far forward. We're America's city.''
And the Saints, tonight, will be America's Team. The team, in the wake of Katrina, went from irrelevant to inspiring, from an afterthought to the lead story some days on sports and news channels. (Emphasis added)
The real villain here isn't Saints ownership or even New Orleans officials, but now-retired NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. Tagliabue spent the bulk of his 16-year term fleecing one city after another to build taxpayer-subsidized stadiums. He's made the league safe for bad owners who can live of these subsidies (and the NFL's equal division of television revenues) while putting owners who built their own stadiums at a competitive disadvantage. Yet Tagalibue was universally feted upon his retirement last month as a "visionary" who extended the NFL's dominant market position. It's easy to be a visionary when you have no personal equity in the league you run and you won't be around in a decade or so when the financial consequences become apparent.
Comments (6)
Historically, the Saints have been less supportive of their team than any other franshise around. I distinctly remember their fans, for about 20 years, wearing bags on their heads at games with "Aints" written on it. One of the most worthless owners to; I think his name is Benson, all I remember is that he walks around with a shade umbrella inside of the dome.
I do not blame the NFL for the public financing of stadiums, but the cities and counties that pay for them. A publicly-financed stadium gives owners more money to spend on their product on the field, boosting ratings and increasing revenue. In a similar fashion, I do not blame corporation that take corporate welfare, but rather the politicians that give it to them.
In baseball it's an even bigger deal because there's no salary cap. If you don't have that stadium bill due every year, that' a lot more money you can spend on the payroll (and increase revenue through higher ticket sales and ratings). As a result, only one team, the Giants, have built a privately-finaned stadium since 1962 (and probably the nicest stadium, I might add). I think It's rather ironic that the most socialist city in America also has the only privately-financed baseball stadium. In contrast, the 49ers have been trying to get the city to go halfs on a $600 million-dollar plus stadium/mall/neighborhood.
Published: September 25, 2006 2:08 PM
The real star in renting seeking is every town's Chamber of Commerce. Every major city and one-horse town in this nation has a Chamber that claims to be creating jobs, but for decades have done little but push new, tax-financed stadiums (plural--stadia?) and convention centers. They do that with exagerated figures of how much money visitors will spend at hotels and restaurants when they come to town. Then they pull a multiplier out of the air and attach it to sales. Finally they divide by average wages and come up with a figure for job creation. What they don't tell people is that the multiplier exists only in their imagination and that they have conveniently forgotten to tell tax payers how much the new stadium/convention center will cost to operate. Nor have they devulged to voters that the higher taxes to pay for the construction and operation of the stadium/convention center will drive businesses to relocate to the lower-taxed suburbs.
Tulsa, OK just got suckered by its Chamber into building a new convention center that will cost the city and county about $1 million a month to operate out of tax revenues. And this is when the city can't even pay police and city employees a decent wage. But hey, it creates jobs! Chambers of Commerce seem to believe that cities can tax their way to prosperity.
Published: September 25, 2006 3:31 PM
I don't know a lot about architecture and building costs but the $180 million seems much for a repair job. Consider that the entire Superdome was finished in 1975 for $134 million. Of course in today's money due to inflation this is much more. However, I still question the $180 million for a hole in the roof and picking up trash.
Published: September 25, 2006 10:46 PM
According to the Superdome's press materials, $140 million went for repairs, including $35 million for the roof. There were also numerous "improvements" to the building, such as new concession stands and "upgrading" approximately 12,000 club and box seats.
Only $15 million of the total $185 million spent on the Superdome came from the NFL. The rest apparently came from FEMA and through refinancing the Louisiana stadium authority's existing debt.
Published: September 25, 2006 11:10 PM
At least reggie bush and drew brees can be commended for their efforts. The real success story out of Katrina is that of the non-profit sector.
In the face of ineffective government services (although nobody should have expected FEMA to be responsive anyways), americans and even canadians (I know a friend of mine who made his way down there) were able to raise funds and volunteer efforts that have slowly but surely helped the citizens of new orleans reconstruct.
It is a long process, but considering the damage, much progress has been made.
Published: September 26, 2006 1:13 AM
As an aside--and this is utter conjecture--I wonder if Reggie Bush's presence in New Orleans wasn't orchestrated by Tagliabue. Houston took a lot of grief for passing on Bush with the first-overall selection in the draft, and it's not unreasonable to ask whether there was some sort of discussion between Houston officials and the commissioner. Bush is an exciting offensive player who brings a well-known face to New Orleans, which lacked a true star player.
And Houston actually has an interest in propping up the Saints, because a potential move to San Antonio (where the Saints played part of last year) would cut into the Texans' fan base.
Published: September 26, 2006 12:53 PM